Having a clear cut customer strategy is essential for businesses in 2020! There are 7 ways in which businesses can enhance their customer experience
1. Set a clear cut Customer Experience vision
Firstly, it’s important to have a clear customer focused vision that organizations can act upon. Having a set of statements which act as a guiding principle is an easy way to define organization vision.
For an example, Google prioritize their core family values and as a result their culture is driven by these values which includes being humble, no discrimination, delivering top notch products, services, and embracing change.
These principles can drive the behaviour of an organization once they are in place. Every team member needs to know organization principles by heart and it should be implement into all areas of training and development.
2. Understanding your customers needs and behaviors
Next, to build upon customer experience strategy, organizations needs to understand the type of customers they are dealing with. Being able to empathize and connect with customers will give insights into customers needs and wants which organization can take advantage of.
Segmenting your customers and creating personas is one way to do this. Group each persona by name and personality. For an example, John is 32 years old. He is tech savvy and is able to follow a video tutorial on his own. While, Peter (55 years old) needs to follow clear instructions on a web page.
Only by understanding customers better, organizations can become truly customer centric
3. Connecting with your customers emotionally
The best customer experience is normally achieved when employees creates an emotional connection with customers.
For an example, let’s look at how Zappos creates an emotional connection with their customer:
A customer of Zappos was late in returning a pair of shoes because her mother passed away. As soon as Zappos found out, they took matters to their own hands and took care of the return shipping without any cost. Zappos didn’t stop there, on the next day Zappos customer service team sent a bouquet of flowers with a note conveying their condolences
Zappos.com
According to a research done by Journal of Consumer Research, it was found that more than 50% of customer experience is based on emotions as emotions usually drive decisions.
Customers who are emotionally attached can become your loyal customers as they remember the positive feeling they had while using your products or service. Businesses which prioritize emotional connection usually have 85% more sales growth compared to competitors which don’t.
Additionally, looking at a recent Harvard Business Review Study, it was found that emotionally engaged customers are:
- 3 times more likely to repurchase
- 3 times more likely to recommend products or services they use
- Much less price sensitive
- Less likely to shop around with other brands
4. Tracking real time customer feedback
How can organizations know if they are delivering a world class customer experience ? By capturing real time feedback from consumers. Tools such as live chat is handy in having a real time conversations with customers. Businesses can also send post-interaction surveys through email in order to know customer feedback and improve on it.
5. Using a quality framework to develop employees
By now, organizations can know what customers are thinking about their products or services quality and can compare that to their defined principles. The next step is to look at employees and identify their training needs. A lot of organizations examine the quality of email and phone communication, however to take this one step further, a quality framework is needed by tracking and scheduling team developments through group training, coaching and eLearning
6. Regular employee feedback is consistently assessed
Most businesses use an annual survey process where employee feedback is assessed. But in those other 11 months, usually nothing happens. This is where continuous assessment of employee feedback can allow staffs to share ideas on how to improve customer experience and it let managers observe how well staff knows the customers and business.
One simple way of doing this is by using social media tools or project management software which creates closed environment for employees to leave continuous feedback on.
7. Measuring return of investment from providing great customer experience
Finally, how can organizations know that if their investment in process, technology, and teams are paying off and working?
The answer is simple, by analysing the business results.
Companies normally use ‘’Net Promoter Score’’ (NPS) to collect valuable information in order to measure customer experience.
Conclusion
With the ease of getting information on their hands, customers expectations are higher than ever! The importance of customer experience rises as customers become more empowered.
Customer experience is one key area which needs constant observation. Companies can witness a positive effect on customers loyalty, increase in revenue, and high retention if they can provide amazing customer experiences.
